Bloodline Quandary
by Madrigal-in-training
Summary: Naruto stepped in front of Sasuke at the bridge in Wave. Seeing his friend 'die' activated the Mangekyo Sharingan, and Sasuke used it to defeat Haku. It also raised an important question. If the Mangekyo could only be activated by the death of a precious person… did that mean Naruto was Sasuke's precious person?


_**Naruto stepped in front of Sasuke at the bridge in Wave. Seeing his friend 'die' activated the Mangekyo Sharingan, and Sasuke used it to defeat Haku. It also raised an important question. If the Mangekyo could only be activated by the death of a precious person… did that mean Naruto was Sasuke's precious person? **_

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Sasuke was ashamed to admit that he closed his eyes when he saw the hail of senbon needles heading towards him. It was an involuntary reflex, but he did it out of fear. And for a mere moment, he pondered, bitterly, that yet again he was cowering in the face of death.

A second later, he didn't feel the expected flurry of sharp pain on his body. Instead a warm splatter of blood hit his face.

"Naruto…" Sasuke breathed, eyes widening at the orange jacket that covered his gaze. His teammate's body was riddled with metal, a few leaking the red liquid that marred his own pale skin. The boy had his arms open, as though to catch all of the weapons before they hit Sasuke. His teammate's form slumped over, before swaying slightly and falling forward.

"Naruto!" Sasuke didn't think. He jumped up from his crouch and caught the body. The deadweight made him stumble, but the Uchiha managed to awkwardly lay the body down, face up.

"Dobe! Why the hell did you do that?" Sasuke yelled, desperately grabbing handfuls of the needles and jerkily pulling them out. A pressure was building against his forehead.

"Don't know…" the boy's bright blue gaze dulled a little from the pain. Despite the fact that he was almost certainly dying, he had the same goofy, cheerful grin on his face. "Guess my body moved on its' own…"

"What about being Hokage, dammit?" Sasuke demanded furiously. The throbbing at his temple beat faster, more painful. "You said your nindo was that you would never go back on a promise. You're doing that now. You're not Hokage yet!"

Naruto's grin faded. "I didn't want to be Hokage… I wanted to be acknowledged. You acknowledged me. You're crying… teme. I'm- glad. I didn't think… that anyone would cry…"

Naruto had a smaller, softer smile on his face as he finally closed his eyes.

"Dobe," the dark-haired boy whispered, "...Naruto?" One hand moved away from the needles, to touch his own cheek. There was a slightly wet trail of tears there.

"Selfish dobe," Sasuke muttered, wiping his cheek. His eyes started to tingle. "I already have an entire clan to avenge. Now I have to avenge you too."

The Uchiha looked up, eyes burning, as he recalled all of the people he had been unable to save. His father… his mother… his clan… all lost to the monster his brother became. And now Naruto. The stupid, reckless, loud ninja wannabe who always chased at his heels and declared himself Sasuke's rival, and kept a smile on his face, even though he was an orphan, _like Sasuke,_ and should be miserable…

"_I didn't think… that anyone would cry…"_

Stupid dobe. Of course, people would cry. Sasuke was crying, and he thought his heart had frozen long ago. Why was he crying? The pressure behind his head became unbearable, and he blinked his eyes rapidly.

"_Because Naruto's like me… we're alone, desperate for acknowledgement… he was my friend…"_

_Was…_

_Naruto's… gone? Why? Because he stepped in front of me. _His eyes felt like liquid fire.

_He stepped in front of me… _His vision began to get blurry.

_I was too weak… _Tendrils of darkness snapped at the edges.

_He died to protect me… _His throat was closing up.

_It's my fault. I killed Naruto. _And his world exploded in a burst of light.

"I'm going to kill you!" Sasuke roared, stumbling to his feet.

Haku felt a pang of instinctual fear as he looked at the raven-haired boy. Young, wiry, littered with blood and clearly exhausted from their battle so far, he still made a striking image. He was terrifying, for inside his eyes were two blood red circles with six triangular petals unfolding from the center. Haku has not researched the Sharingan in depth, but he was sure that it was not supposed to look like that.

"Amaterasu!"

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Sasuke stayed silent as Kakashi dispersed of Gato and his goons. He sat listlessly by Naruto's body, mechanically picking up the senbon one by one and putting them into an ever-growing pile besides him. Every so often, his hand would reach up to touch the skin slightly below his eye where his doujutsu had deactivated. Haku's smoking corpse laid a few yards away from them.

He had activated his Sharingan. He had dreamed of this moment for years. He was one step closer to killing his brother.

So why did he feel so empty inside?

"Sasuke…" Sakura's voice wavered, as she walked up to him. Her green eyes shone with tears as they briefly skittered over Naruto's still body. "Do you need… can I help?" Tazuna followed behind her, his dark brown eyes dulled with regret and shame as he looked at the fallen boy.

"No," Sasuke denied immediately, suddenly realizing how sharp his voice had been when Sakura winced. He made an attempt to soften it. "I can handle it myself."

"Let me have a look," Kakashi ordered brusquely, crouching down besides Sasuke to run his hands over the boy. He smiled a second later. "Haku merely knocked him out. Naruto will be up in a week, probably less even."

Sasuke felt something akin to relief enter his body. "Hnn."

The silver-haired man looked over at him curiously. "You used a Katon jutsu on Haku?"

"Hai," Sasuke muttered, "I was able to catch him after I… activated my Sharingan. I don't really remember much."

"Sometimes we can lose memories from the height of battle," Kakashi accepted, "Can you show me your dojutsu?"

"I don't have any chakra," Sasuke lied. In truth, he had looked into one of Haku's half-melted ice mirrors after he had defeated him, and seen the unique shape of his Sharingan. He had no interest in sharing this with Kakashi just yet.

His sensei accepted his reasoning, and stood back up.

"I think we should all move back to Tazuna's house right now," he said calmly, ignoring the impromptu festival that had begun on the bridge after the villagers had saw Gato fall. "We'll need some time to recover and determine the last step of the mission. Sasuke, can you carry Naruto?"

Sasuke didn't bother to answer, as he stood and clumsily pulled Naruto up until he could properly hold onto the blonde boy's waist and half-lift, half-drag him along. Sakura led the way back to the house, thankfully silent, as Tazuna followed, Kakashi hobbled along in exhaustion, and Sasuke came up along the rear.

As they walked, he tightened his arm around the blonde, noting with surprise that his arm easily fit around the waist and left a lot of thick bright orange material aside. The jumpsuit had made Naruto seem a lot wider than he really was. Apparently, along with being the shortest boy in their class, he was also very slim and lightweight. It made Sasuke's task a little easier, but not that much since he was still essentially supporting the weight of a boy his own age.

The Uchiha was distant for the rest of the mission. The preoccupation he had with his own thoughts were normal, so that none of the team noticed them as Naruto healed, and Tazuna finished his bridge, and they all walked home. The person who would normally interrupt his brooding- Naruto- was still uncomfortable with what he had expressed on the bridge, and was currently avoiding Sasuke like the plague. Kakashi was clearly aware of the rift, but seemed inclined to let them settle it out themselves, for which Sasuke was content.

The dark-haired genin put his observation skills to the test for the week by discreetly watching his male teammate. He noticed that Naruto never left any food on his plate, ever. He would always eat what Tsunami put in front of him, down to the last grain of rice, and profusely thank her afterward. He noticed that Naruto only had two sets of his orange jumpsuit, and would beg off shortly after lunch to wash one in the lake as Sasuke trained. He noticed that Naruto avoided mirrors, never took his shirt off even when it was hot and they were training by the water, and got progressively louder and more obnoxious as they got closer to the village.

This, naturally, led to him getting hit often by Sakura.

"Ow! But Sakuuuurraaa-chaaan," he would whine, whenever her fist met his forehead. Sasuke watched the scene impassively, and then looked over at Kakashi. The man was frowning in disapproval, though he made no verbal reprimands. Huh. And Sasuke had been beginning to doubt that he actually paid attention to his team.

The Uchiha's opinion of Sakura dipped even lower.

"You guys did a great job with this mission," Kakashi said, as soon as they had entered the village, "So while I go and file the main report, you three can take the rest of the week off. You'll be called in tomorrow to give a verbal report though, so remember that, and don't forget to write your own mission summaries."

His three students showed their happiness with the compliment: Naruto by grinning, Sakura with a bright smile, and Sasuke through a pleased smirk before each of them went off. Kakashi eyed his last student curiously for a second, before turning and Shunshined to the memorial.

He'd get to that report. Later.

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Sasuke's first stop was the Naka shrine. He wanted to visit it while he still could, still fueled by the success of activating his Sharingan, since he didn't know if he could muster up the courage again next time. It was a low walled building, with plain, whitewashed walls underneath faded grey-blue tiles. Inside the main hall was a rectangular room, with two brackets for unlit fires, and an old scroll hung on the wall with the Uchiha Creed.

_Say not that we are bound by fear_

_For steel and shadows are the price we pay_

_Perchance our hearts once grow cold_

_Away from Heaven a step we may_

_Take but to never hold_

_The still bodies of the ones that are dear_

He had only entered this room once in his life, when his Mother wanted to make an offering to her ancestors and brought him there.

"_It's a secret_," she had whispered, furtively, lovingly, as she laid a bowl of plain rice and a saucer of sake before the Uchiha fan emblazoned on the walls, "_Our secret. Don't tell your father, okay Sasuke? He wouldn't approve."_

He had been nervous- what if otou-sama learned of this?- but had agreed. Frowning, he laid a hand against one of the fans, and quietly muttered a small prayer. _Uchiha Izuna_. He didn't know why his Otou-san would have disapproved of this man.

Turning away from his own memories, he stepped toward the far right of the shrine, and continued to walk until he was in front of the seventh tatami mat. With hands that _didn't tremble_, Sasuke reached down and tugged the mat away from the floor. A set of ink black seals stared back at him.

Taking a gulp- his throat was dry, and Sasuke suddenly wished that he had thought to bring water- he channeled chakra into his eyes and activated it. The Mangekyo. The pinnacle of his Clan's arts and it still burned a little every time Sasuke activated it. But as soon as he did…

The world burst into a shocking level of clarity. Each tiny detail was open to him, each color was sharp, vivid in contrast, as though they had merely been dulled before, and Sasuke eagerly drank it all in. His eyes fell upon the seals and his mouth curved up into a smile as they rearranged themselves before his eyes. A seal code accessible only to the Sharingan. Extraordinary.

Once again, he marveled at the brilliance of his Clan.

They showed a series of hand seals, and once Sasuke had carefully repeated them, the side wall glowed. With a soft grinding sound, the wall slid open, leaving a small opening the size of a child's cubby. When he peered inside, all he could find was a stone tablet, the size of a young toddler.

He lifted the surprisingly light stone out of the dark cubby, and brought it closer to the fading light outside. Moving his lips, Sharingan spinning lazily in his eyes, he began to read.

_If you are capable of deciphering these words, then you are one of my descendants, and will benefit from my story. I am an old man, and as I rest here on this bed, I acknowledge that I am a dying one as well. In my lifetime, I have borne many names, but by mother once called me Hagoromo Otsutsuki…_


End file.
